Bob Nolan

Bob Nolan (born Clarence Robert Nobles; April 13, 1908 – June 16, 1980, name changed to Robert Clarence Nobles in 1929) was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers, and composer of numerous Country music and Western music songs, including the standards “Cool Water” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” He is generally regarded as one of the finest Western songwriters of all time. As an actor and singer, he appeared in scores of Western films. Early years Nolan was born April 13, 1908, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Harry Nobles and Flora Elizabeth Hussey Nobles. The couple separated in 1915, and Flora raised her two little boys in Winnipeg. In the summer of 1916, Flora temporarily moved her children to her husband’s parents’ home in Hatfield Point, New Brunswick, but due to the machinations of his father, Nolan never saw his mother again. There he attended The Belmont School until 1921, when, at the age of thirteen, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, to live with his father Harry, a United States Army officer. Film career In 1934, Nolan began his career in film as the singing voice for Ken Maynard in the 1934 film In Old Santa